South Africa: Gender Equality Was Close to Mandela's Heart

opinion

Today the world celebrates the life of one of the world's most iconic figures Nelson Mandela. This year we celebrate Mandela Day under the theme "Action against poverty". Mandela Day presents a great opportunity to revisit commitments made to advancing gender equality.

Mandela believed "Freedom cannot be achieved unless women have been emancipated from all forms of oppression. Our endeavours must be about the liberation of the woman, the emancipation of the man and the liberty of the child." Under his administration, Mandela was able to ratify the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), establish the Commission for Gender Equality (CGE); he appointed more women in his cabinet and declared 9 August women's day in honour of the thousands of women who marched for equality and justice in 1956 amongst other things. In 2013, Colleen Lowe Morna wrote that Mandela's gift to South Africa was not only the first democratic elections... but also the opening of the door to women's empowerment."

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